Letters to the Editor | March 17, 2023

Let’s all keep perspective: New Jersey is not the first entity to build a major offshore wind turbine network to generate electricity. Wind energy generates 24% of Ireland’s electricity, and about 8% of power for Norway and California — just a few examples of the increasing prominence of energy production free of fossil fuel pollution or radioactive waste. If dead whales were the byproduct of building ocean wind turbines, as some conspiracy theorists assert (March 14), we’d already know about it. Perhaps some people have difficulty accepting science-based explanations about the climate crisis, whether it’s about the cause or the cure — especially if advocated by a Democratic governor.

Phyllis Rubin, Wynnewood

. . .

Necropsies show our trash, our pollution, and our oil spills end up within whales. The “Great Ocean Garbage Patch” is the largest landfill in the world, an area twice the size of Texas. And our desire for all this stuff has greatly increased the cargo ship traffic that collides with whales.

Wind power, solar power, geothermal, and other resilient technologies are the way forward. If Rep. Jeff Van Drew or local mayors who are shouting no to wind farms insisted that all new construction projects include some of those technologies, I’d be more likely to believe their love of wildlife. Instead, their arguments seem lost to a narrative untethered to anything recognizable as fact.

Karen Barlow, Ocean City, N.J., jaabarlow@gmail.com

. . .

Regarding the March 14 article, “Conspiracy theorists on Facebook are winning the information war about N.J. whale deaths,” I find it hard to believe that Republican leaders — who spent the past 40 years ridiculing “save the whales” and ducking responsibility for environmentalism — are rallying around the whales that they claim with no evidence are being harmed by wind farms. Makes more sense that these leaders are motivated by large campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry. While Facebook has no mandate to listen to scientists or promote rational thinking, publicly elected leaders sure do. Their hypocrisy is as transparent as ocean water.

Louis Greenstein, Pleasantville, louisgreenstein@gmail.com

Where has individual accountability gone? The Philadelphia Housing Authority and a California pocket lighter distributor are being sued for the fatal Fairmount fire (March 15). From what I understand, a child started the fire with the lighter, and the tenants had tampered with the smoke detectors, making them inoperable. While it was a horrible tragedy, don’t the individuals in the house have some responsibility? How can you blame the distributor of a product when it was your child who was playing with the lighter? Shouldn’t the parents be responsible for teaching their child fire safety and keeping a lighter in a safe place? And the PHA gave the family smoke detectors and someone disabled them by taking out the batteries. Whose fault is that?

Lynn Lichtner, Montgomery County

It may be true that the city needs more police, but it is also true that the current police force is tasked with assignments that have little to do with public law and order. Every day, for instance, there is a police car parked in front of the South Philadelphia Target store. Doing what? At every large construction site, police vehicles are parked to divert traffic — a job that an unskilled laborer could do with a red flag. This is not crime prevention. If the police we have were doing work like patrolling high-crime areas, we could reduce crime.

I. Milton Karabell, Philadelphia

I have been reading recently about the proposed subway on Roosevelt Boulevard. My husband and I went to Seattle last year. It is in the process of building a monorail system that is huge. Has anyone considered doing this on the Boulevard?

What would the cost savings be compared with digging underground? It could be worked on while not disrupting the traffic flow. Can we ask the candidates for mayor and get their thoughts on it?

Anita Barton, Conshohocken

It’s a shame that blogger Conrad Benner (March 9) doesn’t seem to appreciate the difference between a graffiti tag and commissioned public art such as a community-approved mural or sculpture. He does, however, understand the power of a clever euphemism. According to him, the costly illegal damaging of public and private property isn’t graffiti — it’s “street art.” Brilliant! What’s next? Getting mugged and having your wallet taken and calling it a “street loan”? Your bank account got hacked? That’s simply a “street withdrawal.” Car hijacked? Nope, that’s a “street Uber.” These examples are not funny, but they illustrate the subversive danger in not calling something what it really is. Maybe the next time the Barnes Foundation gets its beautiful building tagged, it can just go out and put a nice frame around it.

Arthur Meckler, Philadelphia

During all my working years being relatively healthy, I had medical insurance, dental insurance, and eyeglasses coverage. I had a steady income to pay for these plans, in addition to any copays. Now that I am retired, have more physical problems, and have money mostly going out, I am thrown on my own to sort through extremely complex insurance options. If I pick one level of Medicare Part B, I am not allowed to go back to a higher level if it’s not working out. Because I got group rates while working, everything cost less. No more! Now that I am not working, the drugs I paid $10 for are now $50. Paying for insurance now takes one-third of my Social Security check.

So our system is: When you get older, make things hopelessly complex, charge more to those who can least afford it, and leave many without insurance or paying a lot for very little. This is a scam by the insurance companies. They take our money when we are healthy and then drop us when we get old because insurance is not portable.

Susan Thompson, Newtown

Republicans who want to discontinue Ukrainian support should consider some history. In 1904, Russia sought a warmwater port on the Pacific Ocean for its navy and maritime trade. It leased a port in China, but its presence there threatened the Japanese with its own expansionist plans. Feeling threatened, the Japanese offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Japanese influence in the Korean empire. Russia refused, so the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Russian vessels. The Russo-Japanese War followed, with a number of naval defeats for Russia and its continued refusal to accept arbitration at The Hague. The war ended with an agreement mediated by President Theodore Roosevelt. This Japanese victory and the devastating defeat of the Russian navy shifted the balance of power in East Asia and Europe, resulting in declining Russian prestige and helping lead to the 1905 Russian Revolution, which resulted in the czar’s loss of total control. Could Vladimir Putin experience the same demise? Just one more reason for continued U.S. support in Ukraine.

John Kovach, Wallingford

. . .

During the Civil War, the U.S. Capitol dome was completed, the transcontinental railroad was in the works, the Homestead Act was passed, immigration was encouraged, and the North achieved financial stability. Ron DeSantis offers a false choice between supporting Ukraine and dealing with issues at home. The amount of money in aid to Ukraine is a very small percentage of the defense budget, something like $30 billion out of $875 billion. DeSantis is just trying to appeal to the MAGA base and white evangelicals who adore Vladimir Putin. And Putin is far from a third-rate power, in that he poses a significant threat to Europe because he has a nuclear arsenal and supplies gas to Europe.

George Magakis Jr., Norristown

Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.